CAE Grand Opening September 16, 2017

After years of work, planning, fundraising and finally acquisition and construction, the day arrived when our new home was ready for prime time. Doors to the new facility officially opened at 4PM, but people had been arriving for an hour before that and continued to come until the generously huge building was filled to capacity with folks overflowing onto the entry plaza and walls.

The dedication ceremony started with comments by Steve Sumner, Executive Director, thanking all who made this possible, followed by Rome Chelsi, Capital Campaign Chairman, regaling the crowd with history and anecdotes along the way. An award was presented to Mr. Chelsi as the driving force who brought this to fruition. Brief statements of thanks were also made by Peggy Eggers, Capital Committee, and Carol Dobbs, CAE Board President. A ribbon cutting ceremony followed the presentations to mark the occasion.

To launch the art center in an appropriately auspicious way, the gallery was hung with the nationally prestigious Rocky Mountain Watercolor show. This fantastic exhibit took ideal advantage of the gallery space with room for plenty of spectators while the new stage at the end of the gallery had members of the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra providing appropriate musical accompaniment to the event. Awards presentations for the winning entries was held to capacity crowds.